Can We Help?: Kids Volunteering to Help Their Communities

by George Ancona, George Ancona (Illustrator)

Overview

Real kids make a real difference in their communities in this vibrantly photographed chronicle by George Ancona.

George Ancona celebrates the joy of kids giving back. In one after-school program, middle-school students mentor and tutor younger children. Via a special partnership, schoolchildren help professionals train assistance dogs for people with disabilities. At a community farm, families plant, grow, and harvest produce for soup kitchens and charities. In these and other examples of volunteering, kids of all ages work together knitting hats and scarves for those who could use warm clothes, packing hot meals to deliver to housebound people, and keeping roadways clean. Young humanitarians reading these accounts may well be inspired to find ways that they can help, too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763673673
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

George Ancona (1929-2021) was an award-winning author and photographer of more than one hundred books for children, many about arts and culture. He wrote and photographed Boys Dancing: From School Gym to Theater Stage; Can We Help? Kids Volunteering to Help Their Communities; and It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden.

Editorial Reviews

2015-06-06
Kids don't often get a chance to help others outside their families in meaningful ways. This book may change that. Ancona's focus is not on connecting readers with specific organizations but on showing kids the myriad ways they can make a difference, whether working with their parents, their friends, their schools, or people in their communities. A classroom's students knit hats and scarves for the homeless; families harvest produce for soup kitchens; kids bag plums and snacks for needy families; a girl accompanies her dad when he delivers a hot meal to an elderly man; children help train dogs for service jobs; one boy helps another who is disabled to ski; children water young trees during a drought; mentors help younger students with schoolwork; a club cleans up their section of adopted roadway. Ancona gives a general idea of what each volunteer opportunity entails and how long it takes. Lots of pictures fill the spreads. The kids are named in the text, which gives the whole package a nicely personal feel—individuals are doing this work, not generic people. The children are focused and obviously trying their best, but they are also finding time for fun. While this may be too didactic for many readers to choose on their own, it's a sure bet for groups and families focused on doing some community service. (Nonfiction. 5-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Kids don't often get a chance to help others outside their families in meaningful ways. This book may change that....It's a sure bet for groups and families focused on doing some community service.
—Kirkus Reviews

This encouraging book presents examples of children volunteering to help others and enjoying the process...Clearly, the answer to the title’s question is an emphatic “Yes!”
—Booklist

A good choice for schools with a strong emphasis on community service.
—School Library Journal

The clear project descriptions and lively photographs show that volunteering is something that any youngster can do, with a little adult supervision. Hopefully it will encourage readers to become active, contributing members of their own communities.
—School Library Connection

From the Publisher